


Chains

by Code16



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enemy Within, Gen, Happiness in Slavery, Magic, Slavery, Temptation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-05
Updated: 2013-06-05
Packaged: 2017-12-14 01:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/831006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Code16/pseuds/Code16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki is glad to be Thor's slave, because he knows he cannot be trusted with freedom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chains

**Author's Note:**

> I originally started writing this for a prompt on the kinkmeme - http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/5102.html?thread=4262638  
> \- but it hasn't actually gotten to the point of fulfilling the prompt.   
> So for now and the foreseeable future, it's a standalone.

The first time Thor visits Midgard, it is an accident. Or rather, it is sabotage – some magic wormed into the Bifrost, concealed with enough skill to be hidden from even Heimdall, that hurls him off his course, separates him from Mjolnir, throws him down to the mortal realm.   
  
He is well, Heimdall reports to the Allfather, has suffered no harm and is in no danger, is unwilling to call Mjolnir to himself and risk the damage it might do on the way (Loki remembers quite vividly how Thor learned  _that_  lesson, Loki supporting a column with magic to stop its collapse while the idiot of a prince came to the rather obvious realization that leaving his hammer in an underground room had not been among his best ideas), and therefore travels toward it as the mortals do. Has found himself mortal companions, even.   
  
Loki stares out over the waterfall and considers visiting him – there are ways among the realms that he doubts even this shrouded spellcaster knows – but it is not a wise risk to take without reason, and anyway, he believes he will soon be needed here.   
  
He is not mistaken. The Allfather summons him before two days are out, bids him to join the sorcerers plying their art of discovery at the bridge. The intrusion must be cast out, its caster must be discovered, and while Odin’s court has many magic users whose skills are far beyond Loki’s own, his mastery of the shadowed things, of manipulation and illusion and poisoned influence, has no equal. Loki rises from his knees, and goes.  
  
He knows why he was not summoned to this earlier – Thor might refuse to realize it, but Odin knows that Loki is not a secure keeper for trust – but it would have saved the spellcasters their labors if he had been. He sees it as soon as he looks, as soon as he leaves the view of the greater world for the intricate labyrinths that are complex magic, sees it like a fault in a great crystal, so fine a defect that the eye is not drawn toward it, but the light through the crystal will alter its path.  
  
And it is beautiful.   
  
Absolutely, captivatingly beautiful.   
  
Its pattern calls to him, shows itself to him, a language of shape that all the mathematicians of Midgard will never comprehend. Exquisite, perfect – except that it’s so small, the outer edges hinting at a continuation that isn’t there, that could bring the design to even more marvelous grandeur. And he could complete it.  _Right here_ , the magic tells him, pulls at his own.  _You could make this great._  Faults – such fascinating things to work with, put one in the right place and you’ll never need force, the most powerful structure will crumble at a touch. Could he bring down the bridge itself?   
  
 _Yes_ , the pattern, his power, tells him,  _yes you could. It’s yours, it’s all yours._  Of course it was. And he is reaching out to begin when another pattern catches his eyes.   
  
This one isn’t hidden. It’s carved deeply into bright metal, the bright metal that is clasped around his wrists, and yet another time (he’s lost track of how many, by now) it is what releases him. Like plunging into icy water, his mind is freed from its own involution. The pattern’s siren song loses its pull, becomes just another sound. An ugly sound.  _It’s not mine. Even_  I’m  _not mine_. And the one whose name is first among the engraved runes is wandering on another world, is lost from home, could have been lost forever if not for the fortune that sent him to that realm and not into the void.   
  
Loki surfaces from his trance, sends different magic out to call the others to him. He’s found the intrusion, mapped it – together they will root it out. Restore the crystal path, that their prince may return upon it. Find those who were the source of this corruption, that they may be hunted down.   
  
 _And if the Prince may be gracious to me, allow me to assist you in tearing them apart._


End file.
